Cloud based publishing platform GENWI raises $2M

Platform allows for real time changes to apps without users having to update

It is well known that the publishing industry was slow to realize that there was no future in paper. For years the world watched as newspaper after newspaper, and magazine after magazine, folded due to lowered subscription rates and lack of advertising. So now that the ones that survived are finally transitioning to the web, things are once again changing. Now content is moving away from the web and toward mobile. If the publishing industry wants to once again survive, this time they will have to be ahead of the curve.

That is where GEMWI comes in. It offers a platform for publishers to create their mobile apps.

News aggregator GEMWI has received a $2 million investment from Mike Maples, Jr. of Floodgate Partners and Roger McNamee from Elevation Partners, the company announced Tuesday.

There was no word on what GENWI will do with the money it has raised.

“GENWI is honored, not only for the monetary support from Elevation and Floodgate, but for the validation from these industry luminaries whose backing shows that cloud publishing is the way of the future,” PJ Gurumohan, GENWI’s Co-Founder and CEO, said in a statement. “With tablets set to surpass notebook growth by 2016, publishers have an extraordinary opportunity to recapture control of their content and brands away from the context of a web search.”

GEMWI (short for Generation Wireless) offers a cloud based publishing platform, which was purposely built for mobile. Publishers are able to create apps in both native and HTML5 using GEMWI’s mobile Content Management System (mCMS). The apps can then be delivered on smartphones and tablets.

The way it works is that publishers upload their content onto the cloud platform, and then build a mobile apps which is run by GENWI.

The real benefit to GEMWI’s service is that it not only gives editors the ability to manage content, and designers the ability to create apps using HTML5, CSS, or Javascript, it also allows them to make the changes to the app in real time, without having the user constantly update the app.

In addition, publishers are given access to real time analytics, which allow them to deliver content that is targeted, based on geography or by usage patterns.

“Consumers want engaging content at Twitter-speed. GENWI has the technology and the vision to deliver on that promise and we are excited to see the company play a critical role in the future of content,” Maples said in a statement.

Los Altos, California-based GEMWI was founded in 2010 by PJ Gurumohan, Rahul Patel and Raju Sagiraju. The company had previously raised $4 million in Series A funding in October 2011, and $1.1M in seed funding in 2010, both from Nexus Venture Partners, Inventus Capital Partners, and Quest VenturePartners.

The GENWI mCMS currently powers over 1,500 apps and stores, which are viewed more than 6 million times every month. These apps deliver over 90 million articles and over 120 million images per month. Its customers include Conde Nast, IndiaTimes, Moguldom Media, Forbes, and The Hollywood Reporter.